CNN has launched a digital paywall, charging some users to read articles for the first time on CNN business

CNN, one of the world's most popular news websites, is asking some of its viewers to pay $3.99 a month for access

On Tuesday, the news organization is laying the first brick in a so-called paywall that will eventually help foot the bill for CNN's journalism around the world.

“Starting today, we're asking US users to pay a small recurring fee for unlimited access to CNN.com's world-class articles,” Alex McCallum, CNN's executive vice president of digital products and services, wrote in an internal memo outlining the plan.

The average visitor to CNN's website, who may read only a few articles a month, will not be asked to pay at this time. “Users will be prompted to subscribe only after receiving a certain number of free articles,” McCallum explained. “In addition to unlimited access to articles on CNN.com, subscribers will get benefits like exclusive selection features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism and fewer digital ads.”

McCallum and his boss Mark Thompson, CNN's chairman and chief executive, are both veterans of The New York Times, widely envied in the news business for its success in converting online readers and gamers into paying customers.

In a memo over the summer, Thompson said CNN “will build best-in-class, subscription-ready products that will deliver the news, analysis and context needed for new formats and experiences, from the first subscription to CNN.com. The product before the end of 2024 will be launched.”

That's the payment offering that's launching Tuesday — in an initial form that will expand in the coming months “Over time, we will invest in ways to better meet the needs of our users and expand our aperture to engage and serve new audiences,” McCallum wrote Tuesday, hinting at “new products and businesses” in the future.

For brands like CNN that make most of their money from cable television, the challenge is clear: developing new digital revenue streams that can erode legacy TV.

Under previous management, CNN created a streaming video product called CNN+ in 2022 to build a direct-to-consumer relationship with the network's fans. That product, launched just days before a new corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, took control and sought cost savings, but floundered. CNN+ was canceled within weeks.

CNN now wants to build subscriptions with its core offerings. Some content, however, including the CNN homepage, will remain fully accessible without a subscription; breaking news live stories; individual video pages; and sponsored articles.

Thomson Reuters, the world's largest international multimedia news provider, announced on Tuesday that it will introduce a paywall for its website and app in early October. The news outlet shared that subscriptions will be available worldwide for a weekly fee of $1.

“This new subscription plan ensures that Reuters can affordably extend the reach of its award-winning coverage, allowing us to invest more in our reporting and products for our customers,” Reuters president Paul Bascobert said in a statement.

Digital subscriptions have been a promising but challenging business for other news organizations. A recent survey by Oxford University's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that one in five American consumers currently pay for news online.

Greg Pichota, a researcher-in-residence at the International News Media Association, says the industry has plenty of room to grow. “There is no subscription ceiling for online news,” Pichota said. “Imagine you're standing in front of the One World Trade skyscraper in downtown New York and looking up at the top observation deck. Most news brands only reach the first floor, and the 100th floor is far into the clouds.”

The Times' highest ever, he said, is about 10 million digital subscribers.

Small news organizations have battled subscription fatigue and other sources of resistance—a reflection of the fact that virtually all news coverage was published for free when the World Wide Web became popular in the 1990s.

Media organizations large and small have spent the last decade or more trying to change the rules of access to news.

Yet, many readers and viewers don't connect the dots between personally paying for news and helping to sustain the industry as a whole. “Unfortunately, based on surveys, most consumers around the world are not aware of the financial challenges facing commercial news media,” Piechota said.

“But when they hear about the industry's dire financial situation,” he said, “their willingness to pay for journalism is greatest, research shows.”

CNN's Liam Reilly contributed reporting.